# Who watches Lawrence Welk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752 "2018-07-28T23:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/61 "2018-07-29T15:58:32Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > And what is your favorite intoxicant to go along with this experience? Banana peel. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/62 "2018-07-29T17:35:33Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Banana peel. Quite rightly. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/63 "2018-07-29T18:33:32Z")
> [@digs](#): > > …we’d catch glimpses of TVs in other common areas… I never saw ANYTHING else on. No Murder She Wrote, no Bob Newhart or Dick Van Dyke, no Happy Days. Unless there’s a 24/7 channel I don’t know about, I suspect someone had Welk DVDs looping non-stop… Perhaps the home had a very inexpensive cable package. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/64 "2018-07-29T19:12:24Z")
I watch it. I used to watch it ‘ironically’ just to see the thousands of yards of garishly colored polyester to make all those suits for the bands. The silly hair, the floofy dresses, and ‘the good Negro’ tap tap tap dancing. But now, I watch it with real fondness on PBS on Saturday nights. We sometimes cook something elaborate while watching it on tv. The LW band is EXCELLENT, even dressed in butter yellow or screaming red. The ‘Big Band’ shows are marvelous. And its’s always a hoot to watch the Mexican seniorita, the snaggle-toothed country singer, the dance team, or the 70’s big-haired men warbling away…Can someone tell me if it’s true that the gal pounding away on the piano - Joanne someone - was married to a pedophile? There’s nothing on Wikipedia about it, but there is stuff elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/65 "2018-07-29T19:22:32Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I used to watch it ‘ironically’ just to see the thousands of yards of garishly colored polyester to make all those suits for the bands… The LW band is EXCELLENT, even dressed in butter yellow or screaming red. Ah, yes! Oh, to be back in the days when color TV \*\*FOR EVERYONE \*\*was something new! 🆒 :o ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/66 "2018-07-29T19:26:31Z")
It’s not being broadcast this weekend, but I’ve been known to watch it. It bugs the wife when I do, so I keep it to a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/67 "2018-07-30T13:56:15Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > It’s not being broadcast this weekend, but I’ve been known to watch it. It bugs the wife when I do, so I keep it to a minimum. Ever play bass along with them? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/68 "2018-07-30T13:58:48Z")
Could Lawrence Welk perhaps be adapted as a college drinking game? Maybe drink every time bubbles appear, or whenever Larry starts a song with “and a one and a two…” ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/69 "2018-07-30T16:56:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It’I don’t know what “corny” music is, but his band played standards from the American songbook that were popular then and will never disappear. I’d take issue with this statement. There is a wide swath of American music in the musical-ish genre that Welk played and is really forever gone. If by disappear you mean can still be found ins a music book somewhere, maybe. But if you mean music that will have some even very small following, I’m not buying that. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/70 "2018-07-30T17:31:34Z")
Does a genre of music die when the fans die? Mother and her Mother are no longer alive to listen to Welk, but Jazz and the Blues found new listeners. Are there new listeners of “Classic Rock”? Classic, Romantic, and Baroque found new listeners. Polka, of course, we can only hope. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/71 "2018-07-30T18:25:49Z")
Since I was a kid. Still watch the reruns. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/72 "2018-07-30T18:26:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Does a genre of music die when the fans die? Mother and her Mother are no longer alive to listen to Welk, but Jazz and the Blues found new listeners. Are there new listeners of “Classic Rock”? Classic, Romantic, and Baroque found new listeners. . . Good Question. That’s why I asked above exactly what **Thelmalou** meant by her statement. I think, in a realistic definition of the phrase “standards from the American songbook that were popular then and will never disappear” means that they are somewhat known to public and somewhat still being listened to, perhaps commercially. In 2018, one could probably get a recording of virtually any genre of music, but does that mean that it hasn’t disappeared in this context? Stride piano was a niche genre of music in the 1920’s. Have you heard of it? Would you know it if you heard it? Have you ever heard it on the radio? Someone, somewhere still has a record of stride and has played it today, but I’d still argue that it’s disappeared. A friend of the wife and I has a music store in D.C. that sells old records. He says that he stills sells some 30s and 40s music, and 60s to now. But he calls the 1950’s the black hole of music and he can’t sell much from that period. He says that he hasn’t sold an Elvis Presley album in a year, and while we listen to a lot of music, outside of Christmas, I can’t think of the last time I’ve heard Elvis. That whole Welk period is lost to me, but I could be an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/73 "2018-07-30T18:35:25Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The Welk Orchestra strikes me a something of a special case in terms of being a big band. The leader played the accordion, ferpetessake. How many charts did Fletcher Henderson write that used an accordion? How many lineups of Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Miller, Dorsey, Webb, Whitehead, Shaw, etc. even _had_ an accordion? I could be wrong but I think Spike Jones & His City Slickers had one. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/74 "2018-07-30T18:46:13Z")
[List of popular music acts that incorporate the accordion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popular_music_acts_that_incorporate_the_accordion?wprov=sfla1) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/75 "2018-07-30T22:22:36Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The Welk Orchestra strikes me a something of a special case in terms of being a big band. The leader played the accordion, ferpetessake. How many charts did Fletcher Henderson write that used an accordion? How many lineups of Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Miller, Dorsey, Webb, Whitehead, Shaw, etc. even _had_ an accordion? > > It’s just not a swing instrument. And I dare say it makes any selection from the Great American Songbook sound like a polka. I was the first person in the thread to use the phrase “big band” in this thread, and I’m sorry I chose those words. [In this clip, the opening narration uses the term “dance band” which seems more accurate.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybIhNECg4zY)OTOH, this entire clip is “big band” music, so I’ll defend my point that LW was pretty much the last place on TV where you could find big band music. To be fair, Welk (and Myron Floren) didn’t crack out the accordion that much, except for actual polka numbers. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/76 "2018-07-30T22:53:58Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Unfortunately the PBS station WLIW on Long Island, NY stopped running its Saturday night 6PM showing of “Mr Wunnerful” a year ago. 14 years ago the “New York Times” had an article on how reruns of “Lawrence Welk” were the most watch syndicated program on PBS and the viewership on Saturdays was higher than MTV, VH1 or BET. Of course those people went out Saturday nights but the old folks were the ones sending in money to PBS > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/us/old-fans-still-bubble-along-to-lawrence-welk.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/us/old-fans-still-bubble-along-to-lawrence-welk.html) My mother-in-law watched it on WLIW for decades. She died 3 years ago, age 91. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/77 "2018-07-30T23:24:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Does a genre of music die when the fans die? Mother and her Mother are no longer alive to listen to Welk, but Jazz and the Blues found new listeners. Are there new listeners of “Classic Rock”? Classic, Romantic, and Baroque found new listeners. > > Polka, of course, we can only hope. I won’t be stricken if and when LW’s dance band genre completely goes into the ether. Jazz and blues finding new listeners? I think that always was and will be a thing, and irrelevant to LW. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/78 "2018-07-30T23:28:58Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > My father watched it until he passed away in his mid-80s in 2011. Yeah, I think the audience for PBS reruns of this show must be dying off now. Honest to God I thought they were dying off in the 60’s. I viscerally hated Lawrence Welk as far back as I can remember. HATED it. Until this thread I couldn’t verbalize why. This is why: > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > The Welk Orchestra strikes me a something of a special case in terms of being a big band. The leader played the accordion, ferpetessake. How many charts did Fletcher Henderson write that used an accordion? How many lineups of Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Miller, Dorsey, Webb, Whitehead, Shaw, etc. even _had_ an accordion? > > It’s just not a swing instrument. And I dare say it makes any selection from the Great American Songbook sound like a polka. Welk turned everything into a Polka. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/79 "2018-07-31T00:08:58Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Honest to God I thought they were dying off in the 60’s. I viscerally hated Lawrence Welk as far back as I can remember. HATED it. Until this thread I couldn’t verbalize why. > > This is why: > > Welk turned everything into a Polka. I definitely wouldn’t go with polkafication, I’ll go with the distinction **kunilou** made. Now if he had Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Pharaoh Sanders as sidemen…:)😛 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/80 "2018-07-31T01:40:40Z")
I saw The American Songbook in the 1970s and 80s when I worked at a library. Songs they were making me sing in grade school in the 1960s. We must not forget Woody Guthrie and the like. _This Land is You Land_ featured in a TV series recently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752.md?page=5)